Chapter 8 :
"Mother, mother," the three Sabaku No cried, crossing the threshold of their house.
"I'm in the kitchen" she replied.
"Mom, you'll never guess what Sasori-sensei has told us!" Kankuro exclaimed.
"No what ?" she asked him.
"He told us that in two days we were going on a mission with him," Gaara continued.
"Oh really ?"
"It was to reward us for successfully solving his series of puzzles" Temari said proudly.
"Bravo my treasures, I'm so proud of you, come here," she congratulated them while kneeling.
They threw themselves into her arms, laughing and smiling. They were delighted to have honored their teacher and their mother. She was very much aware since several days of the project of her former teammate and her husband but she had played the game and left the pleasure to her children to announce the news. She disguised the fact that it worried her to know that her daughter and her two boys were leaving for their first mission. She had been in this situation too but at the time she was eleven years old, and above all she had studied at the academy. It was not the case with her offspring, and although she did not doubt that Sasori had prepared them well for this mission and that he would do everything so nothing could happen to them, she could not help but worry. Temari was only eight, Kankuro seven, and Gaara six, who in addition lived with Shukaku who, although he had kept quiet until now, still remained a demon and therefore a potential danger.
"Mom, Sasori-san gave us a list of what we should take with us" the little blonde remembered, "Could you help us to make sure we do not forget anything?"
"Of course, let's see that," she said, taking the sheet her eldest son handed her.
She began to browse it carefully under the watchful eye of the trio who hoped they had everything at home.
"I think we have everything we need, he does not want anything a shinobi family does not have, and what are we if it's not a family of ninjas," she commented, winked to them.
They let out a sigh of relief, they had walked the streets of their village all afternoon and the prospect of having to start again tonight or the next day did not delight them.
"We'll take care of all this tomorrow, for the moment, it's time to wash your hands, dinner is almost ready" she announced.
Her two elders rushed into the bathroom on the upper floor, her youngest child did not move.
"Mom, do you think dad will coming home late?" he asked.
"I do not know my angel, you know with his work it's never easy to predict, but in any case he will do everything possible to come home as soon as possible" she comforted him.
"... You're right, dad needs to make sure that we are all safe and happy, as I will when I will be kazekage" he said.
"That's right" she confirmed.
She could not contradict him, and tell him that the post of his father whom he admired so much was not as wonderful and idyllic as he imagined it. In two days he would surely lose some of his innocence, it would have been too cruel and unworthy of a mother to shatter his dream.
"Thanks mum" he exclaimed before leaving to join his siblings.
She watched him go away, and smiled, despite the presence of the demonic creature, her last born was kind, optimistic and full of compassion, it was nice to see. For a long time she had been afraid that he could not have a normal life and that Shukaku would make a real monster of her little boy, but today this fear had greatly diminished and although it would probably never disappear completely, she did not live anymore in permanent anxiety.
Her offspring descended soon and went straight to sit at the table, chatting about their mission.
"I'm home" Rasa announced as he arrived.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" cried the three little ones, leaving the table hastily.
They hurried to their parent who grabbed them one by one: he held Kankuro and Gaara each one in an arm, and Temari was on his back holding herself tightly to his neck.
"Dad, you will never guess what happened to us today" the little brown man said.
When he was going to tell him that Sasori had come to inform him that they had completed their exercise and that they were going on a mission with him, he met the eyes of his wife who made it very clear that he had to shut up and let their children having the joy of telling him the big news.
"No Kankuro, I'll never guess" he said.
"We are going on a mission with Sasori-sensei" the little redhead revealed.
"That's great" he commented.
"Besides, it's Gaara who got the last clue" their sister added proudly.
"It was nothing, I would never have succeeded without you" he said, blushing.
"Do not say that, you managed to overcome your shyness to talk to someone you did not know, we would have failed if you had not done it" she insisted.
"It's normal that he did it, he's our brother, he's going to be a fantastic ninja, you'll see" the other boy assured her.
"Not if he follows your example" the blonde commented mockingly.
"No quarrels tonight, your dad and I are proud of you three" Karura said.
"Your mother is right, let's go for dinner, and you will tell us your day" Rasa said.
"Okay" the three children said.
The kazekage lowered himself and put his daughter on her chair before doing the same with his two sons. He sat in his chair while his wife brought the dishes. The meal began, and once their mother was at table they told their story which was not easy for their parents to follow since the three spoke at the same time.
The next day was the day of great preparations. Karura had given them an exceptional lie in since the next day they will have to get up very early, and even though Koseki was not the farthest village in Suna, it was still almost at full day, so they would be outside for the night. She was proud of them, but she was also very worried, she would not be there to protect them and as a mother it was very difficult to live. Her children were eager to leave, to visit places they had never seen before, they laughed at the danger, they did not fear it. She imagined it perfectly and it frightened her terribly, she still remembered the difficult missions she had to do and the lives she had to take. She did not want them to border on with death so young, they were still only children ...
"Mom, can you come and see if I made my bag properly?" Kankuro called.
"I'm coming my darling" she said.
She went upstairs and entered her first son's room. The room was a real mess, there was things everywhere; toys, unfolded clothes, school stuffs were lying on the floor ... The child was standing next to his bed, not disturbed by all this disorder.
"I'm here, so let's see this bag" she commented, coming closer.
What was not her surprise by examining it carefully. It was perfectly organized, nothing was missing, a real shinobi bag.
"Did you do it alone?" she asked him.
"Yes, why it's not good?"
"Quite the contrary, it looks like you have been preparing your stuff for years, it's perfect, where did you learn to split so well what you carried?"
"At Grandma Chiyo's, she has many books on ninjas, I like to read them, especially the ones about puppeteers" he said.
"Too bad she does not have some about the art of keeping a room in order" she said smiling.
He looked around him and blushed embarrassed by the mess he had set without noticing.
"I'm going to clean it, do not worry mom" he affirmed.
After helping her son clean up the room, she went to see how it went on her daughter's way. She knocked on the door and waited.
"Come in."
"Temari I came to see if you needed me" she informed her.
"Mom, you come up well, all my things don't fit in my bag" she complained.
"Don't get angry, we'll find a solution" she assured calmly.
While opening the bag of the little blonde she found that everything did not go inside and it seemed strange since she took the same stuff as her brother. Examining it a little more closely she discovered the source of the problem; the disposition of the personal belongings of her blonde. She took them all out and showed her daughter how to put them in order to be able to close the bag.
"It was not so complicated, it was enough to find the appropriate place for each object" says Ms. Sabaku No.
"I hate that, I prefer when everything goes to any place" groaned her eldest.
Karura stroked her hair, amused by Temari's sulky pout.
"You say that and yet your room is always spotlessly tidy" she pointed out.
"Of course who would like to live in a pigsty, except Kankuro of course" she commented.
The matriarch of the family left her and finished her tour in the room of her last child.
"Gaara, can I come in?"
"Yes mom, of course," he gave her the permission.
He was standing in front of his bed, staring at his teddy bear in front of him. He had this teddy since he was born, he had fallen asleep every night with him by his side. It was the first plush that she and Rasa had bought for him.
"I do not think Sasori will be happy if you take it with you" she admitted, understanding what was bothering him.
If she had been the shinobi responsible for three children, she would have accepted that they would bring a little cuddly toy to comfort them during the night, their first night away from the village, away from their home and their parents, but Sasori was not her, and he did not tolerate this kind of childishness.
"I know, but I'm afraid he'll feel lonely and he will be scared without me" he said sadly.
"Do you think he'd be fine if he slept in our bed between your father and me?" she suggested.
"... Yes, between you two he would not be afraid because he would know that nothing can happen to him" he affirmed after several minutes of reflection.
"Very well, so now that this problem is settled, let's get ready to pack your bag, you give me a hand? "
"Okay mom" he agreed, smiling.